The Swift-acting Six-armed Awareness Protector, the special protector of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition and its

followers, commonly known as the Six-armed Mahakala, a wrathful emanation of the Great Compassionate
One, Arya Avalokiteshvara, a dharmapala whose transmission originated with the Indian Mahasiddha Shavaripa.
There also is a rare transmission of the protector with three faces which comes from the Mahasiddha Saraha.
These transmissions were received by Khedrub Khyungpo Naljor, both in India and Tibet, from his
teachers Maitripa and Rahula. The Six-armed Protector is the special protector of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition
and its practitioners to the present day. Ever since the incomparable Tsongkhapa Lobsang Dragpa received
these transmissions fromJagchen Jampa Pal, the Six-armed Protector is also one of the main protective deities of
the Gelugpa school. There are also other lineages of Six-armed Mahakala practice, but they all go back to
Khyungpo Naljor's original introduction of this cycle of empowerments, teachings and practices into Tibet.